> [Ember Wreath] - 4th circle spell.
>
> Element: Ash.
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> Type: Conjuration.
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> Classification: Support. Defense.
>
> Target: Self.
>
> Conjures several blocks of searing hot embers that orbit the caster. Embers will react to nearby outside movement and collide, neutralizing attacks and bashing enemies. Nearby creatures are damaged by the heat and the ember shards from the ember's collision.
> [Graft Flesh] - 5th circle spell.
>
> Element: Underworld.
>
> Type: Healing.
>
> Classification: Support.
>
> Target: Self.
>
> Mends flesh infusing the damaged parts with the power of undeath. A patch of of foreign flesh can be used to cover missing flesh or entire body parts can be grafted. If the grafted flesh is from the caster's own body, the wound can be healed at a tenth of the normal speed or with ten times more healing power.
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Prince Lucien gave little warning he was attacking. Reflexes honed by years of relentless combat burst into action.
A silvery-white flash came from his waist. His posture was similar to a famous otherworlder quickdraw technique even though the sword was not oriental.
Aidan's mind sharpened. He could see Lucien flex his arm and one of his most practiced spell diagrams finished in record time.
"Stone Bones."
All he could do was block and deflect with his right forearm. The sword cut true, scraping against the reinforced bones and cutting along the forearm. The forearm remained hanging by only one bone, leaving a cut bone and horrendous bleeding.
He screamed and steeled himself. No time for whimpering. Aidan was already jumping backward and working on his next spells.
"Tailwind."
"Ember Wreath."
Searing embers swirled, enveloped him while the wind carried his form as he willed, greatly reducing reaction time. He used this extra time to heal his arm.
"Healing Light." - it could only stop the bleeding. Out in the open was the granite texture of the bones.
Lucien recovered from his overdrawn swing and lunged, delivering power blow after powerful blow. His sword changed directions as if weightless. Embers and blade met, deflecting the strikes and sending a shower of sparks and fragments of searing matter everywhere. As more mana poured into the spell, embers formed.
The sounds of combat drowned the shouts from the girls. Dawn was focused on assisting his maneuvering in that restricted space. Aidan kept casting.
"Stone Grasp."
Hands of stone formed from the floor and grabbed Lucien's greaves. The prince used magic as well.
"Light Purge!"
"Counterspell."
The prince's repertoire of magic was limited but practiced to mastery. Aidan attempted a counterspell but failed.
Lucien was showered by light, removing all hostile magic around him. The stone hands crumbled, their magic disrupted.
The prince pressed Aidan to retreat into a couch. He could see the furniture through Dawn's eyes, but he still clipped the corner. A blind spot.
Lucien used the opportunity to strike but was distracted when a candlestick hit the back of his head.
"Oops." Cythrel chirped with a sorry-not-sorry expression, ready to bolt away. Lucien turned to see who did it but the elf ducked under a tablecloth. Aidan got time to recover.
They resumed their exchange. Lucien's silver-white sword kept moving with all his might, and Aidan cursed his lack of nonlethal single-target magic.
He could only keep kiting Lucien around the room and into a trap. The girls moved away from the combat, still shouting something Aidan didn't register. He was focused on his finisher.
Infused by a burst of self-confidence, Lucien taunted. "Die already! I didn't think you'd be such a pitiful combatant. I didn't even break a sweat yet!" He was dominating the fight so far.
Aidan's other self glanced at his face. He was with a villain grin in his face. He used the last spell he needed.
"Sylph's Hand."
Everything was set.
Aidan crouched, no embers near his head. He was goading Lucien into an overhead swing.
Lucien bit the bait. He lifted the sword back and swung straight down with all his might.
*CLINK*
And was parried next to the hilt by an ascending flash of metallic blue. The two blades met edge-to-edge. Lucien's sword was sundered.
Wind magic took hold of the unattended flying fragment and it idly floated next to Aidan.
The prince froze to grasp what just happened. He looked to his side and found his sister, a stern look as she flicked the rapier and her blade came less than a finger's width from his neck.
"Move and I'll behead you," Dawn warned. There was no bluff in her voice.
Lucien looked at the hilt at his hands. The grinning Aidan sitting on the floor. The blade of his sword floating at the boy's side. A petite girl using water magic to stop the flammable furniture from burning further. Claire and Sora gasping in terror. The elf, nowhere.
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Aidan took his right arm and Pressed the bones together.
"Healing Light."
"Graft Flesh."
The skin mended and the flesh at the joint took an emaciated, deathly pallor. Aidan flexed his hand. "This will do until Astro can fix it." He stood up and looked at Lucien.
The prince looked at him, and his eyes shifted to the immobile and fierce girl holding a rapier to his neck.
"How?" He asked.
"I'm sorry, your Royal Highness. You have to be more specific." Aidan forced his voice to not sound like gloating. He did a bad job.
"My sword is made of mithril. How was it sundered?" The haughty tone of voice Lucien had disappeared. He was just confused.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "Adamantite here. I win."
"Do you yield?" Aidan asked. His embers already dismissed, only the blade was still floating by his side.
"Yes. I can't fight my own sister." Lucien let his body lose the tension. His shoulders lowered, his whole body seemed to deflate a little.
"I'm not Lumina," Dawn repeated sardonically. Lucien locked his gaze on Dawn.
"Great. Give me this hilt. I am sure we know a master smith that can reforge your weapon." He pried the hilt from Lucien's hands without resistance. "The scabbard too."
"Now, Crown Prince, why don't you sit down and talk?" Dawn asked. The rapier didn't move.
"My loss. I'll comply. Lower your weapon, sister." Lucien crossed his arms. His scowl didn't vanish though. He kept eye contact with Dawn and she did not shy away.
"Good. Please have a seat." Dawn sheathed her rapier with a swift motion. She was getting good at it. She kept herself between the two men, however.
One could see relief stamped on the faces of the girls. Cythrel came out from the table she hid under. Claire was holding her skirt wary of the elf.
"Sora and Claire, you two will also have a seat. We have so many things to talk." Aidan added.
He took a look around the room. The upholstery, carpet, curtains were ruined. The ember shards flew everywhere. singed marks could be seen in the tables and other furniture. His arm was in dire need of a Regrowth spell. Having undead flesh on oneself was not the most pleasant of feelings.
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Aidan clapped his hands.
"Now that everyone is seated and nobody is trying to murder anyone, shall we see to the heart of the matter?"
Everyone was sitting, except for Dawn and Aidan. On a far table, Lucien's broken sword pieces were in the scabbard, wrapped in a cloth. Pearl and Cythrel were sitting a bit away, unrelated witnesses to what basically boiled to a family drama. Extended family, in a sense.
Lucien scratched his head where the candlestick hit him and took a good look at Cythrel. She was unrepentant. Pearl was just sitting, dignified but without calling much attention to herself.
Aidan addressed Sora and Claire. They had a pitiful guilty look tempered by some relief that the worst didn't happen.
"I'll begin by not thanking you for keeping this secret from me. I really almost died right now. And you know who else was going to bite the dust with me." His gaze moved to Lucien. "I must thank you, your Royal Highness. You gave me the last piece of the puzzle I needed."
And he turned back to the two sulking girls. "I already figured out what happened back then. I didn't remember it though." He was angry. He kept scratching the yellowed patch of skin in his right forearm. "Let me finish before you comment."
Nobody spoke. Lucien glanced at Dawn, and she glowered him down. She also tapped the hilt of her rapier.
"I'll begin." Aidan started his monologue. "Lumina and I used to play in the castle gardens when we were little. Something happened, something grave enough to make me stop coming over. I did something to earn the wrath of Lucien here. Probably the same reason I stopped visiting the castle."
He sighed. It was so obvious, why couldn't he figure it out before? Was it because he didn't want to think of that? He kept walking as he spoke. That arm was itching like hell.
"I'm going out on a limb here, but I think I punched Lumina. If I recall it was around my sixth birthday that Sora came to live with us. Given how intimate my knowledge of good old Lumina and myself is, only one thing that would make me punch a friend, a girl, and a princess."
He stopped in front of Sora. "There is only one thing that would make me that angry." She couldn't look at him.
"Prince Lucien, Princess Claire, I am sorry I hit your sister, but she deserved." He stood up and shook his right arm. Aidan looked up, sighed. He turned to look at Claire. "Did I get it right?"
Claire looked away, unable to answer. Aidan looked at Lucien. Lucien nodded. Feeling that his stupid exposition ended, he took the floor.
"What do you want? Didn't you bring enough grief to this family already? I don't know what you did to Lumina now, but..." Lucien stood up and was moving near Aidan.
"Shut up, Lucien. You shouldn't act all high and mighty like a buffoon in front of visiting royalty." Dawn chastised him.
Lucien looked at the other couch and found Pearl. He thought she was some noble daughter of the realm, one that recently came of age and was probably assigned as Claire lady-in-waiting. He made eye contact with Pearl, she gracefully replied with a faint smile and a small bob of her head and shoulders. Practiced to perfection, it showed that she acknowledged him but placed herself no lower. Her gaze was serene but fierce, giving off a vibe of grace, indignation, and curiosity at the same time. She kept her eyes locked on his after he noticed her.
It was impressive how different she was from the Pearl they were now used to.
"Hello." Lucien was surprised and more than a little embarrassed, it showed on his lack of composure. It felt like he was greeting one of his academy friends. Getting owned by Dawn put him off of his game. Pearl didn't answer verbally. She just smiled and kept looking at him in a non-aggressive way. It was not her turn to speak, and neither was Lucien's.
"Crown Prince Lucien of Yutis, meet Crown Princess Pearl of House Juvela." Dawn introduced the two heirs.
Now introduced, she spoke. "Prince Lucien, I'm overjoyed to discover that the rumors about your esteemed person fail to make justice to your character." The doubt lingered because of her inscrutable neutral tone if she was praising or insulting him. Given his mood, Lucien cringed a little. "While my friend calls me visiting royalty, I have indulged so much on the Yutis' hospitality and friendship that I feel as their sister. I regard all the people you see here as a dear friend."
The statement placed Pearl clearly on the side of Dawn and Claire, contained an implied threat that she would defend them and ambiguously forced the listener to wonder what exactly 'fell as their sister' meant. It could be a bond of friendship as close as siblings or a hint at a possible marriage. Pearl was unreadable, without openings. She only leaned a little next to Cythrel. The girl used that as her cue and bumped near the princess. Lucien knew even the elf was off-limits.
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Situation defused, at least for the moment. The room will need renovation, and Aidan got a patch of undead flesh on his arm, but at least nothing worse happened. Furniture and floors can be repaired or replaced, and Astromelicus can heal his arm. Things could be way worse. He could've sheared the prince's soul apart. Or died.
Lucien took Pearl to the balcony to talk. Probably trying to save some face, but Aidan was glad for this blessing. Among all of them, the person best suited to handle Lucien was her. Doting brother gone, they could breathe. Aidan sat on the far end of the room to think and Cythrel stayed with him, probably to avoid being scolded by the other girls for hitting the prince with the candlestick. She was having a hard time not smirking.
Aidan was still trying to figure out how he was able to defend that blow. It was awfully fast. Too strange, and there was a pattern. It was not the first time he was able to pull out a stunt like that.
It left Sora and Claire to get berated by Dawn. The two women were awfully quiet and the guilt was still visible in their faces.
"Can I ask why you kept this from me? And why we weren't warned that Lucien was coming?" Dawn was still suppressing her anger. They were almost killed.
"Nobody knew Lucien was coming. He basically deserted his post to come back once he got word that Lumina was back." Claire explained.
"The first question stands," Dawn warned them.
Sora nudged Claire. Her face had a smug 'I told you so'. "You go, girl."
"I was afraid you might do something to Lumina." She confessed. "We need her back. The Kingdom needs her back." She finished with a low voice, "I want my sister back."
"Didn't I already punch her?" Dawn stared at Claire and earned a nod. She implied the punch was punishment enough as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
The corners of Sora's mouth rose a minute amount. "Not cool, Sora. Don't." Dawn warned her. Back to the recently promoted princess. "Claire, I told you. Heck, if I remember well, I promised it," Dawn pinched the bridge of her nose and vented it all out. "I'm getting your sister back. Alive in all her glorious bitchiness. And after that, she is your problem. I'll take a long vacation away from Yutis once I'm free of her shadow. Knowing that she insulted Sora once in the distant past won't change anything. But you can be damn sure there won't be the next time, even if it means war."